State getting funds to improve unemployment response

The California Employment Development Department is getting $4.4 million from the Department of Labor to improve its technology for tasks such as taking in unemployment claims, issuing checks and processing appeals.

Roughly 2.2 million Californians are unemployed and about 1.3 million state residents are collecting benefits. The 3,453 state workers who administer the unemployment system have been hard pressed to keep up with demand.

I’ve blogged on this before, including tips from readers for how to get faster response. But the system is likely to remain overwhelmed and this $4.4 million, though surely some help, will hardly eliminate the frustrations and delays.